Mar
28
Patriots Besiege Flag Retailers
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Sales increase not as marked as after 9/11
Mary Lou Alley thought about ways to back American troops fighting in Iraq. So Alley, a teacher in the Little Rock School District, bought a flag Thursday to put in her garden. “I think we need to very supportive of our troops,” said Alley, who purchased her piece of patriotism at Arkansas Flag & Banner. “It’s not an easy undertaking for them.” Alley is far from alone in her sentiments.
Sales have doubled at the Arkansas flag maker since outbreak of war with Iraq on March 19, Kerry McCoy, owner of the 28-year-old company, said Thursday. Before that, business was slow -”then boom, it really hit.” McCoy said.
While sales have increased nationally retailers and manufacturers said Thursday, the boost appears to be nothing like the unprecedented demand they saw after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Sales of the flags after 9/11 and since the Iraqi conflict began seem to reflect Americans’ support. Immediately after the terrorist attacks, polls showed that 91% of the public was behind President Bush in his handling of the situation. Recent polls show about 70 % of the country support the war effort in Iraq. Wal-Mart Stor4es Inc. has recorded a “real significant spike” in the number of flags sold since the war started, but “we’ve been able to keep up with the demand,” said Tom Williams, a company spokesman.
Williams declined to disclose Thursday how many flags have been sold at more than 3,000 Wal-Mart stores int the country. Wal-Mart normally does not release sales figures on specific merchandise, but it did report a the time that it sold 315,000 American flags on Sept. 11 and 12,2001. Some stores sold out of the flags. Williams declined to compare the number of flags sold since last week with the total sold immediately after the terrorist attacks. But McCoy said there is not comparison for her. “After 9/11, everybody at one time wanted a flag,” McCoy said “The phones were maddening and we had lines of people out the door. This time, it has been constant, steady but manageable.”
At Annin & Co. of Roseland, N.J., which bills itself as the odest and largest manufacturer of American flags Annin the country, Dale Coots said business is up about 25% since the war started. But that ma be seasonal thing, rather than a reaction to the war, she said. “Our busy usually begins in lat April, as people prepare for Memorial day and Fourth of July holidays,” said Coots, Annin’s marketing manager. “So it’s hard to tell if our busy season is starting early or it’s because of the war. We’ve had a tremendous increase in orders for military flags and service banners, at leas double what we usually have. That’s definitely because of the war.”
But during the two weeks after the terrorist attacks in 2001, Coots said Annin, which was founded in 1847, sold more American flags than it had in the first eight months of the year. “And we could have sold more then if we had them,” Coots said. McCoy, who started Arkansas Flag & Banner in 1975, said she expects the interest in flags will probably decline soon. “It never keeps up,’ she said. “It’s done this a million times and it always drops back.”
Executives at Annin, which has plants in New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, are unsure how long the increase in flag sales will last. “Some of us think sales will keep increasing, but some expect it to drop off,” Coots said. “I guess it depends on how long the war lasts. we’re praying that it ends soon and all the troops come home safely.”
Arkansas Democrat Gazette/ By David Smith
Mar
28
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